Legal action anyone?

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Dude

Dude

I was just wondering if anyone here has ever attempted or is considering taking legal action against the doctor(s) who made their "diagnosis", prescribed their "meds" and/or who claimed the drugs were non-addictive.

I for one have considered it and discussed it briefly with an acquaintance who is a lawyer. However, according to him it would be almost impossible to win such a case in court with the main problem being able to prove without a doubt that the doctor in question made a mistake (from a legal point of view, that is). Then there's the financial issue, of course. Going to court with such a case would cost an incredible amount of money.

So, as pointless as it seems to be to consider the legal route, has anyone actually given it a shot?

I presume not, by the way, but thought I might raise the question nonetheless. Also, I do not want to start a heated debate about how we've all been wronged and about what a bunch of [expletive deleted] psychiatrists are... That's a given, of course. I'm only asking because, who knows, maybe someone here has had some success in that regard or knows how one could go about it (at least in theory).

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Dude

Dude

I've just had a look at some of the threads in this topic session (sometimes it helps to scroll down and have a look around before posting anything new, as I've now realized ).

The threads by Altostrata about reporting your withdrawal symptoms to government agencies and about filing a complaint against ones doctor caught my attention, for example. I think that's exactly what I'll do once I've recovered/stabilized a bit more and am in a position to debate with them (if necessary). There is actually a "patient protection" agency over here in Switzerland called the "Patientenschutzorganisation" (yep, they like their long words in Switzerland and Germany... ).

However, there's not a lot of public awareness with regards to the hazards of psychiatry and psychiatric drugs (with psychiatry still being seen as a legitimate form of medicine from the point of view of the government (a lot of pharmaceutical companies have their headquarters here in Switzerland, by the way...)), so I'm not sure how open they'd be to such complaints. Nonetheless, I'll be giving it a shot in time to come. So thanks to Alto for the advice.

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UnfoldingSky

UnfoldingSky

El Duderino (I'd call you The Dude but I'm not into that whole brevity thing),

I've read your intro thread and your situation is a bit similar to mine, in that I too cold-turkeyed and then reinstated (actually a bunch of times), had problems with that then had long term withdrawal issues (I have recovered from the majority of my issues too by the way.)

I have tried legal remedies for my situation and gotten nowhere. From what I was told, where I live, there is a statute of limitations. I was over that time allowance when I contacted them. However where I live you can get around it if you can prove you were too sick to file. That was basically impossible for me to do. Basically though statute or not, I was told you need an expert witness to say what caused your psych drug issues, to tie it to them, otherwise they'll usually try to just re-frame it all as "mental illness". Such a witness would of course have to be willing to trash the drugs too so they aren't that easy to find. There are a few people I think who provide those services (I think David Healy might have some info on that on his site) but it's expensive to engage with. And the chances of winning seem to be pretty slim...

All that being said there's a case in Canada being heard about the imbalance being a fraud, where at least the guy has had some of the downsides of pills presented in court. He has I think even managed to get his doctor to admit, in court, there was nothing physically the matter with his brain that warranted the use of pills. However they are pulling games with him from what I recall so even he may not get what he wants. I don't know if I can find it but his story was posted on Mad in America not that long ago (past month or so? Definitely this year.)

If you do still wish to pursue legal action it is always best to speak directly to a law firm you'd want to engage, too, one law firm I spoke to encouraged me to contact others, saying I might have better luck with them. Given the possibility of a time constraint too it's best to try (if you are up to it) to look into this as soon as it's reasonable for you to do. It's just so much extra work if you have to try to get around a time limit, and I would bet would just add to the expenses.

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Dude

Dude

Apologies for not getting back to you sooner. And thanks again for your input on this issue. I will still look into what can be done from a legal standpoint over here sometime within the next year or so, but I doubt much can be done for the reasons we've both mentioned above. And I suppose the main problem is the financial aspect. You need deep pockets to go up against a psychiatrist in court, not to mention Big Pharma who would, I assume, also be implicated in such a case.

I read David Healy's "Let Them Eat Prozac" a few years ago, by the way, in which at some point he quotes an American law firm that represents clients who go up against representatives of mainstream psychiatry (or at least attempt to do so). And although they sympathize with their clients (and do a lot of their work pro bono, if I remember correctly), they advise against it. And not only because it be extremely expensive to do so, but also because one's own personal history and that of one's relatives would be subject to intense scrutiny by the opposing side. Also, such cases are likely to go on for what would seem like forever and all of that together tends to take a tremendous toll (according to them), often leaving the client(s) worse off not only financially, but also emotionally and with regard to their health than before they went to court.

Be that as it may, I'm still curious to see if I can find a lawyer who could at least tell me whether or not I'd at least theoretically have a chance. The one I spoke to so far may have been correct in his assessment of the situation, but I'd still like a second opinion. And, who knows, maybe I'll win the lottery and would then be able to kick some psychiatric a**!

In the meantime, however, I guess I'll just have to, like, take it easy, man...